Director Brad Anderson is a very interesting talent. He tends to choose projects that may look normal on the surface, but have an underlying dark streak or twist that keeps you hooked. He is a master at setting a films tone, often an unnerving tone that slowly squeezes the audience with tension. I became a fan of his with the film “Session 9,” a story of an asbestos removal crew working in an old scary sanitarium that blended ghost story and psychological thriller into a new and tasty blend that really freaked me out. Other notable work includes “The Machinist” and some of the best episodes of “Fringe.”
His latest theatrical release is “Vanishing on 7th Street” starring Hayden Christensen and Thandie Newton. Set in the already half-abandoned city of Detroit, the film takes place after a massive power outage apparently makes the majority of people disappear, leaving only piles of clothes. A few survivors gather in a tavern and figure out that it’s the darkness itself that is making people vanish. Sure we’ve seen these themes before, the rag tag bunch of survivors fighting an unknown foe in “The Mist” or the concept of darkness itself as a monster in “Darkness Falls,” but I am optimistic that with Anderson at the helm this film will be another animal entirely.
In the clip above, John Leguizamo finds himself trapped in a tunnel with lights that begin to dim and go off… Things don’t look good. It’s creepy and atmospheric through and through and is the Video of the Day.
“Vanishing on 7th Street” opens in theaters February 18th
Alex Dorn is the Video Editor for HitFix.com, follow Alex on Twitter.